Supreme Court to Rule on Kasibante Petition Withdrawal

KAMPALA; The Supreme Court is set to deliver its ruling Thursday on an application by former presidential candidate Robert Kasibante seeking to withdraw his election petition, a decision that will determine the formal conclusion of his legal challenge to the January 2026 presidential election results. 

A ruling notice issued Monday under the hand and seal of the Registrar summons all parties and their legal representatives to appear before the court. The notice warns that failure to appear may result in the ruling being delivered in their absence. 

The matter is registered as Presidential Election Petition Miscellaneous Application No. 03 of 2026, arising from the main Presidential Election Petition No. 01 of 2026. Kasibante is the petitioner, while the respondents are President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General. 

The application marks the final procedural step before the court determines whether to grant the withdrawal and on what terms. Kasibante filed the original petition challenging the outcome of the January election and later sought access to backend electoral data held by the Electoral Commission to facilitate what he described as a nationwide forensic audit. However, on Feb. 5, he applied to withdraw both the substantive petition and the discovery application. 

The move followed a closed-door meeting between a panel of nine Supreme Court justices and lawyers for all parties, chaired by Chief Justice Flavian Zeija. The meeting replaced what had been scheduled as an open court session for the delivery of a ruling on Kasibante’s discovery application. Counsel had assembled in court fully robed when the Registrar directed them to appear before the justices in chambers. After about 45 minutes, the lawyers emerged and left without any open court session taking place. The Court later directed the respondents to formally respond to the withdrawal request. 

In affidavits filed in reply, the respondents indicated that while they do not oppose the withdrawal, they are asking the Court to dismiss the petition with costs. In an affidavit sworn by Enoch Barata, Director of Legal Services of the National Resistance Movement and counsel for Museveni, the President maintains that he had opposed both the petition and the discovery application and sought their dismissal. He states that Museveni was validly elected in a free and fair election conducted in accordance with the law and that the declared results reflected the will of the Ugandan people. 

While not objecting to the withdrawal, Museveni seeks costs for both the petition and the discovery application. Barata emphasises that there was no agreement or settlement between Museveni and Kasibante regarding the withdrawal. He also notes that under the law, once a presidential election petition is withdrawn, the declared winner is conclusively deemed validly elected. The Electoral Commission adopts a similar position in an affidavit sworn by Stephen Tashobya of Mwesigwa Rukutana & Co. Advocates.